FAIRFAX, Va. – Three first-place finishes, 12 personal bests, and three record book performances set the pace for the American University track team after the Eagles finished out the weekend at the Patriot Games hosted by George Mason University.
- On Friday night, the first record book performance for the meet came from Row Sullivan. They competed in the men's 5000m run, finishing fourth with a time of 14:27.83 to etch themselves at ninth in the top-10 performance records.
- Alex Murphy, who ran in the men's 5000m with Sullivan, came across the line 13th and earned a personal record, the first of the meet, with his time of 15:06.91.
- In the women's 1-mile event, June Mwaniki was the second personal record for the Eagles of the meet, crossing the line 12th overall with a time 5:18.54.
- In the men's 1-mile, Kaden Kluth earned the first first-place finish of the event for the Eagles. Kluth came first, Oscar Counsell crossed the line fifth, and Tucker Zullo came sixth.
- Freshman Ibarra Fernandez came in fifth in the men's 60m; his time of 7.24s is three-hundredths of a second slower than his Bison Opener time of 7.21 that has him fifth in the top-10 performance records.
- Chloee Dotts, another freshman, had another big weekend, setting a personal record in the women's 400m dash, crossing the line first overall in 1:00.23 to win the event outright. Fellow freshmen Jessica Bakas and Tori Maignan finished not far behind, at 10th and 14th.
- The women's 500m event saw more action in the record books and personal record categories. Grace Kirk, who came in 11th, and Kelsey Miskimins, who came in 13th overall, both earned personal records and put themselves at seventh and eighth respectively on the top-10 performance list. Kirk's previous time in the event had her at seventh on the top-10 list, but she shaved 0.68 seconds off her time to reassert herself.
- Junior Cassandra Daniele and sophomore Kirah Tianga came in 16th and 17th in the women's 800m event. Tianga's time of 2:34.58 was a personal record for her in the event.
- Ethan Puc was the second first-place finish for the Eagles at the event. Puc earned a personal best in the men's 1000m with his time of 2:29.00. Nathan Reeves had a noteworthy performance, coming in second in the event. Danny O'Neill came in eighth in the event and earned himself a personal best with his time.
- In the women's 3000m run, senior Rachael Potter came in fourth and freshman Skyler Tatum came in 12th and both racers set personal records for themselves in the event.
- Two runners also set personal bests in the men's 3000m; Michael Dua and Cooper Michaud, who came in sixth and tenth respectively both set personal bests. Sean Stuck, who came in ninth, and freshman Jack Chandler who came in 33rd competed in the event for the first time.
- To round out the performances of the weekend, Kluth, Zullo, Puc, and Morgan finished sixth in the event and came across the line just 0.62s slower than their time last weekend that put them third in the record books.
QUOTES FROM COACH GRAHAM
"This team continues to impress. This is the third weekend in a row of racing, and we have big PRs, big wins, and very aggressive racing across our event groups. Big days from
Row Sullivan in the 5k,
Rachael Potter and
Michael Dua in the 3k, and the men's mile was hard fought with 1-5-6 finished, with
Kaden Kluth winning outright. Then in the men's 1000m came Ethan [Puc] and Nate [Reeves] with a tactical 1-2 finish. Plus, freshmen
Chloee Dotts had a big win and
Fernando Ibarra had a very solid day as well.
"We now get a two-week training block before competing again. I'm excited to get back to work with them then see what they do as we near the championship season."
AU RESULTS
| EVENT |
RESULTS |
| 60m Dash, Women |
27. Neev Agarwal, 8.77 |
| 60m Dash, Men |
5. Fernando Ibarra, 7.24 |
| 200m Dash, Women |
7. Chloee Dotts, 26.58 | 24. Neev Agarwal, 29.53 | 28. Eva Gibson, 31.49 |
| 200m Dash, Men |
3. Fernando Ibarra, 23.05 | 21. Brian Gutro, 24.40 |
| 400m Dash, Women |
1. Chloee Dotts, 1:00.23 (PR) | 10. Jessica Bakas, 1:04.72 | 14. Tori Maignan, 1:10.23 |
| 400m Dash, Men |
22. Owen Garrett, 56.69 | 23. Brian Gutro, 56.97 |
| 500m Dash, Women |
11. Grace Kirk 1:22.24 (PR)* | 13. Kelsey Miskimins, 1:23.32 (PR)* |15. Lucia Ianello, 1:25.82 | 17. Eva Gibson, 1:31.67 |
| 800m Run, Women |
16. Cassie Daniele, 2:33.81 | 17. Kirah Tianga, 2:34.58 (PR) |
| 800m Run, Men |
12. Ethan Horton, 2:05.18 |
| 1000m Run, Women |
10. Rowe Crawford, 3:08.61 (PR) |
| 1000m Run, Men |
1. Ethan Puc, 2:29.00 (PR) | 2. Nathan Reeves, 2:29.30 | 8. Danny O'Neill, 2:32.01 (PR) |
| Mile Run, Women |
12. June Mwaniki, 5:18.54 (PR) | 14. Callia Cordasco, 5:23.56 | 23. Brooke Evans, 5:32.58 |
| Mile Run, Men |
1. Kaden Kluth, 4:12.28 | 5. Oscar Counsell, 4:15.45 | 6. Tucker Zullo, 4:16.28 | 10. Carver Morgan, 4:20.32 |
| 3000m Run, Women |
4. Rachael Potter, 10:26.65 (PR) | 12. Skyler Tatum, 10:52.17 (PR) | 17. Hannah Schwab, 10:58.58 |
| 3000m Run, Men |
6. Michael Dua, 8:34.41 (PR) | 9. Sean Stuck, 8:38.42 | 10. Cooper Michaud, 8:40.74 (PR) | 33. Jack Chandler, 9:56.11 |
| 5000m Run, Men |
4. Row Sullivan, 14:27.83* | 13. Alex Murphy, 15:06.91 (PR) |
| Distance Medley Relay, Women |
4. Staiger, Daniele, Kirk, Riley, 12:38.09 |
| 4x400m Relay, Women |
3. Bakas, Cordasco, Daniele, Tianga, 4:26.63 |
| 4x400 Relay, Men |
6. Kluth, Zullo, Puc, Morgan, 3:29.89 | 8. Counsell, O'Neill, Garrett, Gutro, 3:39.57 |
NEXT UP
The Eagles have a bye-week before they split a weekend at two meets on February 10-11. Part of the team will compete at the Darius Dixon Memorial Invitational in Lynchburg, Va., hosted by Liberty University while other part will compete in Boston, Mass. at the Valentine Invitational hosted by Boston University.
KEEP UP WITH US
For the latest on American University Cross Country, stay tuned to
AUEagles.com and follow the team on Twitter (@
AU_TrackXC) and Instagram (@
AU_TrackXC).
